UNEP has a mandate from the UN General Assembly and its Governing Council to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition to strengthen their environmental legislation and institutional arrangements. To date, assistance has been provided to over 100 countries worldwide including many from Asia-Pacific.

At the request of governments in the region, UNEP provides technical assistance to develop and implement environmental laws and regulations on pollution control, biodiversity and natural resources conservation, as well as waste and chemicals management. In addition, UNEP provides assistance to strengthen national legislation to implement multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in selected countries.

UNEP also assesses needs to identify environmental problems and help mitigate these problems through the development of appropriate environmental legislation and institutions. Assistance is also provided to National Legal Experts to review existing environmental policies, legislation and institutional regimes and in organizing national consensus-building workshops with stakeholders for appropriate legal, policy and institutional reforms. Legal advice is provided to draft framework environmental laws, sectoral statutes and domestic laws for the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).